


you can't always get what you want

by honeyspider



Category: Shazam! (2019)
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Alternate Universe, Billy's mom sucks but we all already know that, Bullying, Child Abuse, Gen, Magic, no powers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-18
Updated: 2019-04-27
Packaged: 2020-01-16 03:31:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 12,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18513031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honeyspider/pseuds/honeyspider
Summary: Billy makes a birthday wish and wakes up in a world in which he's with his mom. But he quickly finds that it isn't what he had always dreamed it would be.





	1. i

**Author's Note:**

> OKAY, SO: this takes place in an au in which literally, like 99% of the movie didn't happen. there's no superpowers. in this, billy moved into the vasquez house and has continued his search for his mom for the last several months.

It was his birthday. This was always a rough day for Billy, who would wake up missing his mother even more than usual. Another year that they had missed out on together, just because he had been stupid enough to let go of her hand at the carnival all those years ago.

Billy hadn’t slept much. Freddy had shaken him awake at midnight exactly to wish him a happy birthday. The intention was nice, Billy supposed, but all it had done was leave him to stare up at the ceiling in the dark for the rest of the night once Freddy had laid back down on his own bunk.

He was tired, on top of the general moodiness that always came on his birthday, so Darla letting out a loud squeal and latching herself onto him as soon as he had descended the stairs was not his ideal start to the day. He pried her off with a grumpy utterance of, _“Get off!”_

Her eyes widened at him in shock before darting down to the floor. Billy ignored the guilty feeling that struck him suddenly and kept walking.

There was a chorus of “Happy Birthday, Billy!” from the other kids when he entered the dining room.

“Where’s Darla?” Rosa asked. “I figured she would still be attached to you.”

Billy shrugged.

“Well, I made pancakes, so eat up, okay?”

She headed for the doorway, clearly going to go look for Darla, and moved to squeeze Billy’s shoulder as she walked by him. Billy flinched and quickly dropped himself into a seat to avoid her hand. He pretended not to notice everyone staring at him as he reached for pancakes.

It wasn’t that Billy didn’t like the group home he lived in now. In fact, it was undoubtedly the best place the system had ever put him. But he wasn’t meant to be here. He had someone out there looking for him, waiting for him. Knowing that ate at him constantly, but especially on his birthday.

He imagined how his mom must be feeling, how she must feel every year on this day. Wondering where her son is, if he even remembers her anymore.

Billy suddenly felt sick to his stomach and pushed back from the table. He had hardly even touched his breakfast, but went into the kitchen and scraped the rest into the trash.

He went back upstairs and hid in his and Freddy’s room until it was time to leave for school.

“You’ve been quiet today,” Freddy commented as they walked down the sidewalk. “Not much for celebrating your birthday, huh? That’s cool, dude. I mean, I personally don’t get it because I love the cake and the cards and having everyone pay attention to me and all that stuff, but to each their own.”

Billy didn’t respond.

“Well, anyway, um, here.”

Billy looked down to see Freddy holding an envelope out to him. He grabbed it and shoved it into his jacket pocket.

“Oh, you’re not going to -?” Freddy asked, clearly disappointed that Billy wasn’t tearing it open. “That’s okay.”

Once they got to campus, Billy hastened his step and disappeared into the mass of students, leaving Freddy and the others behind.

* * *

Billy couldn’t focus on his classes. In second period, he took a pass to the bathroom and leaned over the sink to splash some water onto his face. Something fell against his foot.

He grabbed a couple paper towels and dragged them over his face, ignoring how rough it felt against his skin, then looked down. It was the envelope that Freddy had given him.

Billy sighed and picked it up, pulling at the sealed flap. He pulled out a card, the front of which displayed the Justice League wearing party hats and holding out a birthday cake. It said **HAPPY 8TH BIRTHDAY!** , but Freddy had crossed out the 8 and written in a 15.

The inside was edited, too.

**Best wishes for a super day for a super kid!**

Freddy had crossed out “kid” and written in “best friend”. He had added a short message below that, too, but Billy focused instead on the small packet that was inside the card. It was red with a lightning bolt in the center of it. In big, dramatic letters on top was the word **SHAZAM!** That was all the information it said.

The bell suddenly rang, startling him. Billy absentmindedly tossed the envelope and card from Freddy into the trash and shoved the red packet into his pocket before hurrying back to his classroom to grab his stuff.

* * *

When lunchtime came around, Billy didn’t even bother getting a tray. He sat at his and Freddy’s usual table, flipping the mysterious little envelope between his fingers and shaking it to hear what was inside. It sounded like some sort of powder.

Freddy sat down next to him with his lunch, breaking out into a smile when he noticed that Billy had clearly opened up his card.

“Oh, cool! You haven’t used it yet. I wanted to see what it looks like when you do.”

“What...is it?” Billy asked.

“Wishing dust,” Freddy said, as if it should be obvious. “Didn’t you read the card I gave you?”

Billy looked down at the table, realizing that he hadn’t and feeling like shit for it. Beside him, he heard Freddy get up.

“I’m going to the library,” he said quietly and walked away, leaving his tray untouched on the table.

* * *

After school, Mary was waiting for him several feet from the others with her arms crossed over her chest.

“ _Hey_ ,” she said, stopping Billy as he tried to pass her. “We need to talk. I get that today may be rough, but you can’t just take it out on everyone else.”

“Whatever,” Billy muttered.

“No, Billy, it isn’t _whatever_. Darla told me you snapped at her this morning and now Freddy is upset. We all have bad days, but you have to _talk_ to someone about it. You can’t just go around hurting other people to try to make yourself feel better.”

He jerked his arm away from the light hold she had on him and marched off in the other direction.

“Billy!” Mary called after him. “Where are you going?”

He walked with no destination in mind. At intersections, he would go whichever way prevented him from having to stop and wait for a signal to change. As time went on, he felt his phone buzzing in his pocket and ignored it.

Eventually, he stopped at a playground, sitting down on an empty swing. He wasn’t sure where he was, hadn’t kept track of all the corners he had turned at.

His phone started vibrating again. Billy reached into his pocket to turn it off, but his fingers instead touched paper. He pulled out the little red packet of powder that Freddy had given him. _Wishing dust_ , Freddy had called it. How ridiculous.

Still, Billy tore off a corner and shook the packet into his hand. Sprinkles of shiny red dust spilled into his palm.

Billy glanced around. The park was empty. It was the time of the evening when kids were called inside for dinner.

_Here goes nothing_ , Billy thought to himself. It was silly, wishing on cheap glitter, but it was his only chance to make a wish at all. Even if he returned to the Vasquez house, he certainly wouldn’t be getting a cake with candles to blow out after all the trouble he had caused that day.

He wasn’t really sure how this stuff was supposed to work. There were no directions on the packet. Billy closed his eyes and let his mind imagine what he wanted most.

_He’s sitting on the hood of the police car, a large jacket draped over his shoulders. He fiddles with the compass keychain in his hand as the officers talk into their radios._

_“Billy!” a woman shouts._

_“Mommy!”_

_He launches himself off of the hood of the car and runs as fast as his little legs will carry him to his mother, who is running towards him. She takes him into her arms, lifting him up and hugging him close as she kisses his head over and over._

_“Oh, Billy, I was so worried I had lost you. My sweet boy.”_

_She pulls back to look over him and make sure he isn’t hurt._

_“I’m sorry, Mommy,” he says._

_“It’s okay, baby. Let’s go home.”_

Billy takes in a small breath and blows the dust out of his hand.


	2. ii

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for all the awesome comments on the first chapter! i'm glad this story has people interested! the concept is 100% stolen from my favorite movie, 13 going on 30, lol. anyway, i hope you'll all stick around for the rest!

Billy rubs his eyes as he wakes up and suddenly realizes he doesn’t know where he is. He’s sitting up in a single twin-sized bed, not a bunk bed with Freddy underneath him. There’s a cluttered desk with a small lamp sitting on it and a dresser with three drawers. On top of the dresser, there’s a single photo frame propped up on its leg. No sign of Freddy’s superhero collection.

Billy gets out of the strange bed and walks over to the dresser to pick up the picture frame. He can’t quite believe what he sees. He’s looking at himself at, if he had to guess, nine or ten years old. Younger Billy is smiling broadly and there’s a woman with her arm around his shoulders. She’s smiling, too.

But it’s not just any woman.

“ _Mom?_ ” Billy whispers aloud to himself.

He opens the door and steps out into an unfamiliar hallway. He hears movement and follows it to a kitchen, where he stops dead in his tracks when he sees a blonde woman standing over the stove.

“Mom!”

Billy bolts over to her and throws his arms around her middle, squeezing her tightly. She tenses up, arms frozen, before patting him twice on the shoulder.

“Billy, be careful! The stove is on,” she scolds and pushes at his arm to remove him.

“I-I-,” Billy stammers. “Sorry, Mom. I’m just happy to see you.”

She looks at him like he’s said something bizarre. Billy supposes maybe he has.

There’s a grunt as a man shuffles into the room to sit at the wobbly dining table. He’s tall, with a beer gut protruding out, and dark hair that’s looking sparse in the front.

“Dad?” Billy asks before he can stop himself.

He’s never been able to remember what his dad looked like, had never been able to picture him as vividly as he could his mom. But, hell, his mom is here, so why wouldn’t he assume that this guy is his father?

“Dad?” the man repeats. “Do I look like that good-for-nothing lowlife to you? Marilyn, tell your boy to quit being stupid.”

Billy is taken aback by the venom in the man’s voice. He looks at his mom, expecting her to have a similar reaction. She wouldn’t let a stranger talk to him like that.

“Billy, pour a cup of coffee for Travis,” she says quietly.

He turns around, too shocked to reply in any way. There’s a fresh pot of coffee brewed on the counter. Billy opens up a cupboard over the machine, assuming that’s where the coffee cups will be and is relieved to find that he’s correct. He pours hot coffee into the mug, wondering for a moment if he should put anything in it like Rosa and Victor do, but decides against it. If anyone seems like the type of person who would drink the nasty stuff plain, it’s this guy.

Billy sets the cup down in front of the man. _Travis._

He receives a grunt in response.

His mom serves Travis a plate with eggs and toast. Billy glances over to see that the pan she had been cooking with is empty. She’s only made breakfast for one.

She reaches up on top of the refrigerator and pulls down a box of cereal, which she holds out in front of Billy.

“Hurry up and eat or you’ll be late for school.”

“Um, I’m not hungry, actually,” Billy says.

He hurries out of the kitchen and back into the room he woke up in, shutting the door behind him and leaning against it.

_What. The. Fuck. Was. Happening._

The last thing he remembered was sitting on that empty swing set, ripping open the package of wishing dust that Freddy had given him.

And now suddenly he’s here with _his mom_. Billy knows he should be ecstatic, but it doesn’t feel right. She isn’t really what he imagined and there’s that strange, mean man living in their house.

Billy lays back down in the bed and pulls the covers over his head. He counts to ten and then peeks out again. He’s still there. It isn’t a dream.

There’s a knock at his door.

“Billy, you’re going to be late!” his mother calls out.

“Almost ready!” Billy replies and hurries over to the dresser to find some clothes to change into.

He’s disheveled when he exits the room, having rushed to get dressed. There had been a backpack on the floor that he put over one shoulder. His mom is waiting by the front door. His heart flutters for a moment, thinking that she’s going to walk him to school like he’s watched other mothers do for years. He often hears kids complain about their moms walking with them, but he’s always thought that they didn’t know how good they have it.

She adjusts the crooked collar of his shirt and smooths her hands over his shoulders.

“Be good today, please,” she says in a hushed voice. “No fighting, no skipping class, okay? For me?”

Billy nods. “Of course, Mom. I love you.”

He says it so strongly, not in the typical tone of a teenager who is forced to say the words. His mom looks caught off guard.

She opens the door for him. “Go on, now. Before you’re tardy.”

Billy steps into the hallway of their apartment building. He heads towards the elevator, looking back to her as he pushes the call button, but she’s already gone.


	3. iii

Billy hadn’t known where he was supposed to be going for school, so he had just followed the other walking kids who looked like they were his age. Upon arriving at the building, he stopped and stared up at it. This was not Fawcett Central.

He considered walking away, finding his way to the school he was familiar with and trying to locate Freddy and the others. But his mom had specifically asked him not to skip class. He had promised her. Billy took a deep breath and walked inside.

He didn’t know what classes he was in or even which locker was his, so he went to the front office.

“I forgot my locker combination,” he told the woman at the desk.

“What’s your locker number?”

“I, uh, forgot that, too…”

“Name?”

“Billy Batson…?”

He’d answered somewhat apprehensively. After all, he’d never been to this school before. What if he didn’t even go here?

The woman eyed him suspiciously. “Let me see your student ID.”

“Uh…”

Billy swung his backpack around and started rifling through the small front pocket. Did he even have a student ID? Suddenly, his fingers touched smooth plastic. He pulled out a small card which had his picture, name, and student number on it, all for this school called Jefferson High.

The woman typed on her computer and then scribbled some numbers onto a slip of paper for him. He looked down at the locker number and combination, unable to believe that he really existed here.

Someone cleared their throat behind him, so he hurried away from the desk and out into the hall to track down his locker.

When he found it and got it open there was, thank goodness, a class schedule taped to the inside door. The first bell rang, echoing through the halls. Billy ripped the schedule off the door and followed the signs posted on the walls to his first class.

Part of Billy had hoped that, somehow, he would bump into someone he knew. A head of curly dark hair in the hallway made his mind automatically think _Freddy_ , but, of course, it hadn’t been him.

By lunchtime, Billy’s stomach was growling so badly he had had to keep his arms wrapped over his torso during his last class to keep everyone from hearing it. He realized he hadn’t really eaten since the day before yesterday. _Had_ yesterday _even really existed?_

That was too deep of a question for him to ponder on an empty stomach. He waited in line for food, hoping that he had free lunch because he didn’t have any money on him. Luckily, they didn’t ask him to pay. Billy took his tray and turned away from the line, looking out at the mass of strangers in the cafeteria.

His first instinct was to text Freddy and ask where he was. _That’s it!_ That would be the proof that he wasn’t crazy, that he wasn’t making this all up in his head. He could call one of the others.

He sat down at the first semi-empty table he could find and started digging through his backpack for his phone. Nothing. He patted his pants pockets, even though he had put them on himself just a few hours earlier and knew there was nothing inside them.

_Shit._

After lunch, he had to go to P.E., which was unfortunate scheduling. Upon arriving to the locker room, he realized that this would involve another locker and combination that he did not know. He repeated what he had done earlier, walking up to the coach’s office and saying that he had forgotten.

“I don’t have time for this right now, Batson,” the coach griped. “Use the lost and found.”

Billy’s eyes moved to the cardboard box sitting in the corner of the office. Sighing, he went over and dug around for the cleanest looking clothes he could find.

The shirt was faded and stretched out. The shorts were too big and the drawstring was broken, so they were always on the verge of falling down his legs. Billy held onto the waistband as he walked into the gym with the other boys.

“Fuck, Batson, I didn’t know you were _that_ poor,” someone said.

Billy turned around to face two boys. They were both a little taller than him, one with shaggy dark hair and the other a blonde crew cut.

“Have to wear the school’s hand-me-downs now, huh?”

He turned back around, swallowing down his gut reaction to say something back or, worse, hit them. He needed to keep his head down and get through the day without bringing too much attention to himself.

A hand clamped down on his shoulder.

“Hey, Bitch-son, we’re talking to you!” one of the boys said.

“Yeah, are you deaf or just stupid?” the other laughed.

_Marilyn, tell your boy to quit being stupid._

Billy felt his fist clench as the words of that man sitting at the breakfast table echoed through his head. The hand on his shoulder spun him back around. It was the blonde boy holding him. Billy held his fist up, ready to use it.

“You gonna hit me, Bitch-son?”

_No fighting, no skipping class, okay? For me?_

At the memory of the promise he had made, Billy lowered his arm. The boys laughed.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Fucking pussy.”

The blonde one shoved him and Billy stumbled back, struggling to keep his too-big gym shorts up. On the other side of the room, the coach blew his whistle to start class and everyone went over.

When the last bell finally rang, Billy rushed back to where he had found himself that morning. There was a key in his backpack that he used to let himself in.

“Hello?” he called out. “Mom?”

There was no answer. Relieved simply by the fact that Travis wasn’t there, Billy headed towards the room he had woken up in. _His_ room, he supposed.

He yanked the covers off of the bed in search of his phone. Maybe he had left it there that morning by accident. When he still didn’t find it, he pulled the bed frame away from the wall to search behind it.

“Billy? What are you doing?”

He looked up to see his mom standing in the doorway with a basket of laundry.

“I’m looking for my phone. Have you seen it?”

She sighed heavily. “Have we not talked about this enough already?”

“Talked about what?”

“The phone!” his mom snapped. “You aren’t getting one, so stop bringing it up. You know it only makes him mad. I swear, sometimes I think you _like_ pissing him off.”

Him. Travis.

“No, Mom, I -”

“Just clean your room back up and do your homework. I have to leave for work soon.”

Billy watched her walk away, a sinking feeling in his gut. He had spent so long trying to finally get to her and all he was doing was making her upset.

He moved the bed back and remade it before pulling some random books out of his backpack. He had no intention of actually doing any of the homework he had been given that day. It wasn’t like he had actually been able to pay attention to classes anyway.

A short while later, his mom came back into the room, fastening a name tag to her top. Billy scrambled to look as though he had been in the middle of reading something out of the textbook on his lap.

She walked over and kissed the top of his head. A rush of warmth flooded through him. _This_ was what he had always been imagining.

“There’s dinners in the freezer. Be good and stay out of Travis’s way.”

Billy nodded. “Okay, Mom.”

She walked out of the room and a moment later he heard the front door close as she left for the night. Not sure how long he would have the place to himself again for, Billy ran through each room, looking a phone or computer.

In this crazy situation he had found himself in, Billy wasn’t sure of anything except that he needed to find Freddy.


	4. iv

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is pretty short, but i love it bc...

The next morning, Billy was no better off than he had been the day before.

His search at his mom’s apartment hadn’t gone well. There wasn’t a computer, laptop, or tablet around that he could use to contact anyone. What kind of teenager didn’t have a cell phone? Even as a foster kid, he had had one.

He had done as his mom had told him and stayed out of the way once he heard Travis return, keeping himself in his room as he listened to the man stomp around the house and yell at the television. At one point in the night, Billy was certain he had heard steps stop outside of his door and he had held his breath until Travis continued down the hall.

His mom had come back home in the middle of the night. She entered carefully, clearly trying to be quiet, but Billy hadn’t been asleep anyway.

He got out of bed and went into the living room, where she was sliding off her shoes and rubbing her feet. She jumped when she noticed him standing in the shadows.

“Jesus, you scared me,” she whispered. “What are you doing up?”

Billy shrugged. “Waiting for you.”

He went and sat next to her.

“Mom, do you remember the day at the fair? When I got lost?”

Her body tensed up and she was quiet for a moment before saying, “Of course I do.”

“I’m sorry I did that.”

“That was a long time ago, Billy. Why are you even bringing it up?”

Billy wasn’t sure how he was supposed to answer that. _Hey, Mom, funny story -- turns out we really did get separated that day and you never were able to find me and I ended up in foster care, but I made a birthday wish on some magic powder and now it’s like none of that ever happened._

“I-I just...had a dream about it, that’s all.”

She didn’t look at him as she told him, “Just go back to bed, Billy.”

* * *

Not wanting to go through what had happened the previous day in P.E. again, Billy went to the coach during lunch to get his locker situation sorted out. He’d then waited around in the locker room until the last possible moment before joining the other students in the gym. Billy had never been one to hide from bullies or back away from a fight, but he was just trying to keep a low profile here. It was unnerving having people who knew who he was, as if they had gone to school together all their lives, when they were absolute strangers to him.

He let his mind wander as he and the other students jogged up and down and up and down the bleachers inside the basketball court. Not having a way to contact Freddy was difficult. This school got out at the same time as Fawcett, so he couldn’t make it there in time to try to catch his friend without cutting class. He supposed he could try the house, but he really wanted to find Freddy alone. Freddy was the only one who might actually believe him.

“Hey, Batson!” a familiar taunting voice called out behind him.

Billy rolled his eyes. _Fantastic._

“Superman!” the other voice yelled.

One of them shoved him roughly on the back, launching him off the last couple steps of the bleachers to land on the floor. Billy pushed himself up, catching his breath as the wind had been knocked out of him when he hit the ground.

He could only imagine what Freddy would have said, something about how _Superman represents the antithesis of bullying and people like that shouldn’t even be able to speak Superman’s name if that’s how they’re going to use it_.

That’s when it hits him.

It was Wednesday. Freddy always went to the comic book store on Wednesdays after school because that was when new comic books were released.

When school got out at the very end of the day, Billy bolted out of the building and to the nearest subway station. He had to make it in time to catch Freddy. It may be his only chance, unless he wanted to wait for the weekend, but Billy thought he would go crazy if he had to wait any longer to share what was going on with someone.

He heaved a disappointed sigh when he got to the store and Freddy wasn’t there.

_Maybe he just hasn’t gotten here yet_ , he told himself.

But then a different thought occurred to him, one that made his stomach turn.

_What if Freddy doesn’t exist here?_

In the blink of an eye, Billy had woken up in a completely different life. Who was to say that that hadn’t changed everything else about the life he had known before?

He was freaking out, pacing on the sidewalk outside the front of the store, when he heard the familiar sound of a crutch clicking against the pavement. Spinning around, Billy nearly couldn’t believe his eyes.

“Freddy!” he exclaimed in excitement

The boy froze, eyes wide in confusion. He glanced over both of his shoulders before pointing at his chest and asking, “Freddy, as in, like, _me_ , Freddy?”

“Yes! Oh my god, dude, you’re not going to believe what’s happening to me!”

“I...don’t understand,” Freddy said. “Are you, like, messing with me? Are you going to steal my money or something? Because I only have enough for two comics.”

Billy felt his jubilant mood deflate. Freddy didn’t know who he was. He would just have to prove it.

“Freddy Freeman, you live with Rosa and Victor Vasquez on 21st Street and your foster siblings are Mary, Pedro, Eugene, and Darla.”

If anything, Freddy looked even more creeped out after that as he slowly started backing away.

“No, Freddy, you _know_ me! I know you! Ask me a question and I’ll prove it, okay?”

Freddy was clearly apprehensive, but his curiosity won out. “What’s my favorite color?”

“Blue.”

“A lot of people’s favorite color is blue. It’s the most popular color.”

“Well, then ask a better question!” Billy exclaimed.

“What’s my favorite movie?”

“You say it’s Pacific Rim, but I know it’s really the Greatest Showman because I catch you humming the songs to yourself all the time and you never complain when Darla asks you to watch it with her.”

Freddy’s mouth dropped open and the arm that was holding his crutch started to wobble. “How-how do you-?”

“ _Dude_ , I told you. We know each other. But something really weird is going on and you’re the only person I can talk to about it. Will you please listen to me, just for a couple minutes?”

Freddy nodded and Billy led them over to a nearby bench.

“Okay, so I moved into your house in December, right before Christmas, and...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FREDDY!


	5. v

“So, let me get this straight,” Freddy said. “You’re from an alternate timeline where we know each other, but, by way of magic, you were transported into _this_ timeline where I have no idea who you are.”

Billy blinked, wishing he could have summarized it all that easily. Instead, he had spent several minutes fumbling over words as they spilled out of his mouth.

“I know it sounds crazy, but -”

“Crazy? This is _awesome_! This is the coolest thing that’s ever happened to me!”

A wave of relief crashed over Billy. “I _knew_ you’d believe me!”

There was a moment where they just sat there, smiling at each other as they soaked in the fact that they were sharing such an incredible experience.

“So…,” Freddy finally said. “Now what?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like, okay, you hopped into an alternate universe. Now what?”

Billy pauses. “I...I don’t know. I hadn’t really thought past finding you.”

Everything had been so overwhelming that he hadn’t considered actually _doing_ anything other than just trying to make sense of what was going on. Of course, the most important thing would be spending time with his mom. She behaved so oddly around him, often distant but occasionally affectionate. Billy supposed maybe he was thinking too hard about it. He was just excited to be around his mother because, to him, he hadn’t seen her in twelve years. To her, in this world, they had never been apart.

Travis was a real problem, though. Billy had gone through enough homes and met enough people in his life to trust his gut when he had a bad feeling about someone. This guy set off all of Billy’s alarms. He wondered how long he and his mom had lived with him.

Freddy must have been watching him think through all of this because he said, “See? You’ve been given an opportunity to change things, not just the fact that you got your mom back.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

Freddy’s phone started ringing and Billy felt a pang of nostalgia when he saw Rosa’s name flash on the screen. He had liked Rosa and Victor. And the other kids. Of course, he had never really shown it. No matter how much he had liked them, they weren’t his family. They weren’t who he was meant to be with.

Billy realized that it was past the time he and Freddy were usually back home from their stop to the comic book store. She was probably worried, just checking in to make sure that Freddy was okay.

A thought struck him. His mom had said that he couldn’t have a cell phone. How would she ever call him if _she_ was worried?

Freddy hung up the phone. “Hey, I gotta get going. Do you wanna come for dinner? I’m sure they wouldn’t mind, seeing as how in your universe they let you live in their house and everything.”

Billy considers it, but decides he should go back to his mom’s instead. After all, he had spent his wish on getting her and it would be silly to immediately return to the place he had wanted to get away from.

“No thanks, but we can we hang out tomorrow after school? It helps to talk to someone familiar.”

Freddy smiled. “Yeah, totally. Just text me.”

“I can’t. Let’s meet at the park by the house, the one Eugene sprained his wrist at when he tried to prove that double jumping is something people can actually do in real life. Three o’clock.”

Freddy nodded and got up to start walking home.

“Dude, aren’t you going to get your comics?” Billy asked, knowing that Freddy had been looking forward to the next issue of X-Men.

“Are you kidding? For once my real life is actually more cool than comic books.”

Billy grinned as Freddy left. It may have only been two days since Billy had last seen him, but it had felt like a lot longer, given the circumstances. He had missed Freddy.

* * *

Travis was the only one there when he got home. His mother had already left for work for the night.

“Where the hell have you been?”

“At school,” Billy answered. “I stayed late to study.”

The man grunted. Billy was quickly learning that that was Travis’s signature sound. Assuming that the questioning was over, Billy headed towards his room. As he walked away, he heard Travis mutter something under his breath and even though he couldn’t understand the words, they made him angry.

That night, in the hours between when he had heard Travis lumber off to bed and when he knew his mother would come home, Billy did another search through the house. This time, though, he was trying to piece together this life.

It wasn’t easy. There weren’t photographs or mementos hung on the walls the way there were at the Vasquez house. The place was scarcely decorated at all and Billy found himself missing the glittery construction paper signs that Darla was always putting up.

He was desperate for anything that gave him any information at all, trying to solve a puzzle without any of the pieces.

Disappointed in having come up short, Billy retreated back into his room. He was tired, but sleep wasn’t coming easily. It felt weird to be sleeping in a room alone, not with Freddy softly snoring beneath him.

He had been in a limbo between asleep and awake when he heard the front door open. Blinking at the numbers on the alarm clock next to his bed, Billy noticed that it was later than when his mom had gotten home the night before. Maybe her shift had run late. He listened as she walked past his door and into the room she shared with Travis. Several minutes later, there was the muffled sound of arguing traveling through the walls.

Hearing adults fight was nothing new to Billy. It usually didn’t affect him anymore, but this was his _mom_. A bad feeling clawed at his chest as he listened to the raised voices and hoped that he wouldn’t end up hearing anything worse.

Footsteps stomped past his door.

“Travis, where are you going? It’s late!”

“I don’t have to tell you shit! If you can stay out doing whatever the fuck you want, so can I!”

“I missed the bus and walked home! I told you that!”

“Don’t fucking lie to me, Marilyn!”

“No, Trav-”

Billy jumped when the front door slammed shut with so much force that it reverberated through the apartment. He took a deep breath and got out of bed.

He found his mom sitting at the kitchen table, her head in her hands as her shoulders shook from crying.

“Mom? Are you okay?”

She looked up and immediately wiped her face. She plastered on a smile, one so clearly fake that Billy was a little afraid of it.

“I’m fine, honey. I’m hungry. Do you want some food?”

“Um, okay. Sure.”

His mom got up and turned on the stove, pretending that nothing had happened. Like she and her boyfriend hadn’t just been screaming at each other. Like Travis hadn’t just stormed out of the house in the dead of night.

Without asking if he wanted any, she poured Billy a glass of milk. He sat down at the table with it. He watched her flit nervously about the kitchen, grabbing different things that he couldn’t imagine would end up well being cooked together.

“I’m just-just going to wait for that to heat up,” she said, referring to the stove, and then walked away.

Billy waited for a few minutes, sipping at the milk to make her happy. He watched the coil on the stove turn bright red. Finally, he went to go look for her.

Pushing open the door to her room, he found her curled up on her side on top of her bed. Silently, Billy stepped back out and closed the door behind him. He went back into the kitchen, turned off the stove, and put away everything that she had gotten out. He poured his glass of milk down the drain and went back to his room.

* * *

Only a couple hours later, Billy walked back into the kitchen to find his mom cooking breakfast and brewing coffee, although he had never heard Travis return.

“Is he back?”

“No, not yet,” his mom answered, breaking the eye contact she had been holding with the wall behind the stove. “I’m going to take this to him at work.”

“What? Why?” Billy couldn’t stop himself from asking. “Mom, he’s horrible. He doesn’t deserve anything from you.”

She sighed and answered in a tired way that Billy was coming to realize she used a lot with him. “You wouldn’t understand. You’re too young.”

“I’m old enough to understand that he’s an asshole and that he yells at you and he hates me and that we don’t need him around. We could get by on our o-”

“Billy, would you _shut up_!” she suddenly shouted and stunned him into silence. “Do not argue with me and do not speak about Travis like that. Do you understand me?”

Billy didn’t answer her, didn’t move a muscle. Was she really siding with Travis over him?

“Stop staring at me and go get ready for school.”

Wordlessly, he rose from the table and went into his room.

* * *

He walked out the front door without saying bye to his mom, but had no intention of going to school. Instead, he waited on the side of the apartment building until he saw her leave shortly after him. Billy trailed after her, maintaining a far enough distance that she wouldn’t notice him.

He almost gave up when she descended a flight of stairs down into a subway station, but then kept following after her anyway. Over the years, he had gotten good at not being seen when he didn’t want to be. And, besides, his mom didn’t really seem all that observant.

He boarded the subway car adjacent to the one she did and watched through the windows to see when she got off.

Finally, she walked up to a construction site where they were building a new mall. Billy hung back outside the fence as she talked to someone and was let inside. He peered through the wire of the fence to see her find Travis in his orange vest and talk to him.

He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but based on the way his mom was touching Travis’s arm and the smug look on Travis’s face, it wasn’t hard to guess what was going on. His mom was apologizing for a fight she hadn’t started to a man who treated her like shit.

It made Billy feel kind of sick to watch. Why did his mom want someone like that around her? Around her son?

She kissed Travis before turning and leaving the way she had gone in. Billy didn’t follow her. He stayed where he was, crouched outside the fence, and watched Travis walk up to his coworkers and proudly show off the plastic box of food and thermos of coffee that he had been given. They all laughed boisterously. Billy knew that the butt of whatever joke they were laughing at had to be his mother.

_Now what?_ Freddy had asked him.

Billy had finally figured it out. He was going to get himself and his mom away from Travis, no matter how much she seemed to think they needed him.


	6. vi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ummm so i'm realizing now that i'm going over this fic with a more critical eye that i am very guilty of flipping back and forth between past & present tenses for absolutely NO reason. sorry if that's confusing or annoying at all & i'm going to pay more attention to that in the future as i'm writing.

Billy hadn’t gone to school, so he had plenty of time to make it to Fawcett Central in time for them to be dismissed. He spotted the Breyer brothers’ ridiculously large truck parked crookedly outside the front of the school, as usual. There was a scuff still on the front right side and Billy felt a rush of fury run through him when he realized that, in this timeline, he hadn’t been there the day that they had clipped Freddy.

He was about two seconds away from pulling out his house key and dragging it across the side of the stupid, ugly car when the bell rang and students came flooding out. Pedro got to the designated family meetup spot first, followed by Darla who ran up and squeezed him. Billy found himself missing Darla’s hugs, then immediately felt guilty because he had never, not once, ever reciprocated one. Eugene and Mary joined them next.

When he spotted Freddy, he waved his arms to grab his attention. Freddy broke out into a grin and continued past the others, who all looked very confused.

“Freddy, where are you going?” Mary called out.

“Gonna go hang out with my friend Billy. I’ll be home for dinner!”

Mary looked surprised -- not necessarily that Freddy had a friend, but that this friend had appeared out of seemingly nowhere.

Freddy crossed the street and knocked his shoulder against Billy’s.

“Hey, man. I thought we were meeting at the park.”

Billy shrugged. “I was in the neighborhood.”

Really, he had spent the day wandering around and trying to avoid getting caught for truancy.

They walked over to the park and Freddy used the money he had saved from not buying comic books the day before to buy each of them an ice cream from the truck that was there.

“So, I figured out what I need to do,” Billy announced.

“What is it?”

“I need to get rid of my mom’s boyfriend.”

Freddy choked on his ice cream and leaned forward, lowering his voice as he said, “Like, _kill_ him?”

“ _What?_ Dude, no! I just need to get my mom to dump him!”

“Oh, thank god,” Freddy sighed in relief.

Billy told him about the night before, how Travis had started an argument with his mom when she got home and then stormed off. He didn’t mention the conversation he had had with her that morning, when she had yelled at him and told him to shut up. Billy was telling himself that she had just still been upset about the fight, that she hadn’t really meant it.

“Yeah, this guy sucks,” Freddy said. “So how are you going to break them up?”

Billy frowned. “I don’t know yet. She seems like....brainwashed by him. It’s weird.”

Despite the fact that he just devoured an ice cream cone, his stomach releases a loud growl. Billy crosses his arms over it. Okay, maybe he hasn’t been taking the best care of himself the last couple of days, but there’s been a lot going on.

“Rosa’s making enchiladas tonight. You should come.”

Billy’s head tilts and for a second he wonders if Freddy actually _does_ remember things from their other timeline, even if it’s just subconsciously.

“What?” Freddy asks, fidgeting under the odd look Billy is giving him.

“Nothing, it’s just… You and I loved enchilada nights. We would eat way too many and then lay in bed and complain about how full we were for the rest of the night.”

Freddy smiles, in awe of this information. “Wow, we really _are_ long lost best friends.”

Billy suddenly feels bad because in the other timeline, where he spent practically every waking moment with Freddy, he had never referred to him as his “best friend”. In fact, he had been awful to Freddy on his birthday, the day that everything had changed.

But this Freddy didn’t know that. This Freddy was under the assumption that they were best friends. What kind of monster would Billy be to tell him any differently?

“Yeah, I’ll come for dinner. I haven’t had a home cooked meal in days.”

Freddy looked surprised. “Really?”

“Yeah, my mom only cooks breakfast for Travis and she works during the night, so it’s just frozen meals for dinner. I haven’t really felt much like eating, anyway, though.”

“Well, come on, then. Rosa loves to feed hungry kids.”

* * *

There’s a warmth to the house that Billy had never noticed before now. It hits him as he walks in, right in his chest. It’s the kind of warmth that only a truly safe place can give off.

His mom’s house doesn’t feel that way. It’s cold in a way that never truly lets him relax or let his guard down.

“Freddy!” Victor calls from the dining room. “Dinner’s on!”

Freddy grabs Billy by the elbow and leads him, as if Billy doesn’t already know where he’s going.

“I brought a friend. Hope that’s okay.”

He has this big, proud grin on his face, as if being able to show off that he has a friend outside of the house is all he’s ever wanted to do.

Rosa and Victor’s expressions match the one Mary had had earlier, clearly surprised because they had never heard of this friend and it wasn’t the kind of thing Freddy would be able to keep to himself.

“Of course it’s okay,” Rosa says. “I’ll get out an extra place setting.”

Billy follows her into the kitchen while Freddy tells the other kids to scoot over so he can squeeze another chair in. Rosa gets a plate down from the cupboard and, without thinking, Billy goes over to the silverware drawer to get out a fork and knife. When he turns around with the silverware, Rosa is looking at him curiously and he realizes that, technically, he shouldn’t know where things are in this house.

“Um, lucky guess,” he says with a shrug.

He takes a seat in the empty chair next to Freddy, setting his plate and silverware in front of him.

“All hands on deck!” Victor declares.

Billy had never stuck his hand into the middle when he lived here, but on this night he does it without second thought. Rosa smiles at him from across the table.

“Thank you for this meal. Thank you for this day,” Victor starts off as usual, then adds, “Thank you, Freddy’s friend, for coming over to play.”

Freddy groans. “ _Play?_ We’re not five!”

Billy doesn’t say much for most of dinner, as his mouth is busy devouring a hefty helping of Rosa’s enchiladas. Freddy answers any questions posed towards Billy and Billy just nods, his cheeks stuffed with food.

“Billy doesn’t go to our school, right?” Mary asks. “Where did you two meet?”

“Comic store,” Freddy says and it’s not a lie, so his face doesn’t come off as too suspicious.

“And how long ago wa-”

“Hey, Mary,” Victor chimes in. “Let’s not interrogate them, okay?”

He changes the subject by asking the younger kids about their day.

“Oh! Eugene, how was your science fair?” Billy asks, the words slightly muffled by the bite that he hadn’t yet finished chewing.

Freddy kicks him under the table and Billy swallows his mouthful of food, realizing what he’s done.

“How do you know about that?” Eugene questions.

“Um, uh, Freddy. Yeah, Freddy told me about it.”

He goes back to eating without talking.

After dinner, Freddy asks if he wants to stay and watch a movie or something, but it’s almost dark out so Billy decides to go back to his mom’s. They make plans to meet up again the next afternoon. As he’s leaving, Rosa hands him a box of leftovers. Billy is overwhelmed by the urge to hug her. He pushes it down and mutters a thank you.

* * *

He braces himself when he opens to door to see Travis sitting on the couch watching a football game.

“Was hoping you finally weren’t coming back.”

Billy ignored him, walking through the room to go put his food from Rosa in the fridge.

“Good for nothing, just like your mother.”

Billy froze, then turned around. “You don’t get to talk about her like that. You wouldn’t know what _good_ is. You’re a piece of shit.”

Travis lunges off the couch and, in a blur, has Billy pinned up against the wall. The collar of Billy’s shirt is bunched up tightly in his hand. He pulls his hand back.

“Yeah, hit me,” Billy tells him. “I can’t wait to go to school tomorrow with a fucked up face and show all my teachers.”

The hateful glint in Travis’s eyes doesn’t leave, even as he lowers his hand back down. He uses his hold on Billy’s shirt to yank him off the wall and shove him to the ground.

“Get the fuck out of my face, you brat.”


	7. vii

When Freddy walks up to him in the park the next day, his limp is more pronounced. As he gets closer, Billy realizes that his face his lip is bleeding, too.

“What happened?”

“Breyers.”

“Shit, dude. I’m sorry. I should be there to help you.”

Billy had skipped his own school again. Going there did nothing to help him with what he needed to do and it allowed him to avoid the two guys who harassed him.

Freddy shrugs. “You’ve got your own stuff to take care of. How is it going getting rid of the asshat?”

Billy tells him what happened the night before, how Travis had gone into a rage and nearly hit him. Freddy looks concerned.

“You don’t...you don’t actually _want_ him to hurt you...right?”

“Well, I mean…,” Billy starts, then looks down at his lap. “If it’s what it takes to get rid of him.”

“Billy, no. This guy sounds really dangerous. You can’t know that he won’t...go too far.”

Billy sighs exasperatedly. “What else am I supposed to do?”

“I don’t know,” Freddy says, his tone more serious than Billy has ever heard it. “But not that. We’ll think of another way. Promise me.”

This Freddy has only known him for three days, but already cares about him so sincerely. Billy was stunned and took a moment to reply.

“I promise.”

* * *

“Dude, why don’t you just find more of that magic wish powder?” Freddy suddenly asks. “You could wish for Travis to be gone.”

They’re in his room, listening to music and trying to think of a plan to get rid of Billy’s mom’s boyfriend. It feels weird to Billy, calling this _Freddy’s_ room. It’s supposed to be _his and Freddy’s_ room.

“I don’t know where to find magic wish powder! You’re the one who gave it to me. If anyone should know where to find it, it’s you!”

“Wait, what? _I_ gave it to you? Dude, you left that part out of your original story.”

_I also left out the part about how I was a moody jerk who threw your awesome birthday card into the trash without even reading it_ , Billy thought to himself.

“Do you remember what that stuff was called?” Freddy asks, pulling out his laptop.

“Shazam.”

Freddy snorts at the absurdity of the name as he types it into Google. He scrolls through the results, frown deepening as he clicked to the second page of results. Having to go to page two was never a good sign.

“I’m just getting a lot of stuff about some genie movie with Sinbad in it. Nothing about magic wish dust.”

Billy groans, flopping backwards on Freddy’s bunk.

“Hey,” Freddy says, nudging him lightly. “You should just sleep over and then tomorrow we can go out looking for it.”

Billy’s body feels heavy with exhaustion. The familiarity of his surroundings doesn’t help him combat it and it’s kind of late already. He doesn’t feel like going back to his mom’s. He has no way to call her and let her know. Even if he borrowed Freddy’s phone, he doesn’t know her number.

He wonders if she’ll notice he’s gone. He wonders if she’ll care.

* * *

Billy got his first good night’s sleep in days. Being somewhere he recognized was a comforting feeling. It helped that there wasn’t anyone in the Vasquez house that he was afraid of.

When he finally woke up, rubbing sleep out of his eyes, he noticed that Freddy was already dressed and was reading a book.

“What time is it?” Billy asked through a yawn.

“About 10:30.”

“10:30? Dude, why’d you let me sleep so late?”

Freddy shrugged. “Seemed like you needed it. Now, put some clothes on and let’s go!”

Billy has no reservations about jumping down off the bunk bed and stripping out of the pajamas he had borrowed from Freddy. He and Freddy had changed in front of each other a bunch of times. But Freddy makes a flustered little noise and spins around, reminding Billy that _no, they hadn’t, not here_.

“Hey, can I borrow a shirt?”

Freddy points vaguely towards the dresser without looking at him. Billy smiles as he pulls open a drawer to be greeted by a variety of tees bearing different superhero logos. He grabs the top one, dark blue with Wonder Woman’s insignia on it, and pulls it on over his head.

“Okay,” he says and Freddy finally turns back around. “Where to first?”

“Well, I made a map of everywhere in the general vicinity that alternate reality me may have gone to to find magic dust.”

He shows Billy the map, which has circles around every comic store, magic shop, and psychic reading place in the area, as well as the best route to take to hit each of them strategically. They grab some snacks from the kitchen and stuff them into their backpacks before heading out. As they walk through the living room, Mary glances up from her homework to make a not-so-subtle look at the sight of Billy in Freddy’s shirt, similar to the one she had made the night before when Freddy had announced that his new friend was going to be staying the night.

* * *

Billy felt defeated as they walked out of the sixth stop on their map, not having been successful anywhere so far. They’d practically been laughed out of every store. The only place that hadn’t had been a tarot card reader, who had tried convincing them to pay her for a reading until they uncomfortably backed themselves out of the shop and ran down the street.

“This is pointless,” Billy muttered, kicking a little rock down the sidewalk.

“Hey, no,” Freddy replied quickly. “I found this stuff for you once. I can do it again. And then, while I’m at it, I can wish for a better leg.”

“You wouldn’t, like, wish to be with your parents? Like I did?”

Freddy shook his head without hesitation. “No way, dude. There’s...a reason why I’m not with them. I’m happy where I am, with Rosa and Victor and the others.”

Billy ponders the answer and, selfishly, he envies Freddy’s ability to be happy with people who aren’t his biological family.

By the early evening, they’d made it through their whole map and had had no luck locating the Shazam powder.

“Maybe it’s, like, a magic rule,” Freddy said. “You know, like how if a genie gives you three wishes, one of them can’t be for more wishes? Maybe you’re only allowed to use it once.”

Billy sighed. “So we’re back at square one again, then. What am I going to do?”

“I don’t know. Let’s go back to the house.”

“No, I should really get back to my mom’s.”

Freddy doesn’t say anything, but his face clearly gives away that he wants to. Billy nudges him, encouraging him to spit it out.

“I just...I don’t like the idea of you going back there. It isn’t safe. And if something happens, you don’t have a way of getting a hold of me.”

If Billy is being honest with himself, he doesn’t really like the idea of him going back there, either. But he’s spent so long trying to get back to his mom that he can’t just give up because of an oversize bully. He had let go of his mom’s hand once; he wasn’t going to do it again.

“I’ll be okay,” he tells Freddy, who doesn’t look any less concerned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so mary 100% thinks that billy is freddy's secret boyfriend lmao  
> for a while when i was writing this i couldn't decide if i wanted to make it shippy or not. i ultimately decided not to and just to focus on billy & freddy's friendship, but the mary thing was one part i couldn't bring myself to take out bc it amused me so much.


	8. viii

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sooooo here is the chapter that everyone is going to yell at me for...

The apartment is quiet when he gets there and it makes Billy feel uneasy. Shouldn’t his mom be there, waiting for him to come home?

The door to his room is ajar and he sees that what few belongings he has inside have been thrown around. His alarm clock has been yanked unplugged from the wall. His dresser drawers are open and his clothes are strewn about the floor. The picture of him and his mom lays in a pile of broken glass.

Billy picks up the photo and stares at it, tears welling up in his eyes and blurring the image. He wished the memory captured in the photo really belonged to him. He wished he had happy memories like that with his mom because since he had shown up here in this timeline with her, it’s been nothing but heartbreak.

A single, fat teardrop splashes down onto the picture. Billy rips the whole thing in half.

He hears the front door open, knows from the grunt and the sound of bottles clinking that it can only be Travis. Billy steps out of his room, ready to confront the person who has made his dream life a living hell.

“Look who the fuck it is!” Travis exclaims. “You got a lot of nerve coming back here, boy.”

“Leave me alone! Leave _my mom_ alone! We don’t want you around!”

Travis grins wickedly. “I’d actually say your momma wants me around quite a bit. I got the scratches on my back to prove it.”

Billy charges at him, grabbing the man by the middle and tackling him to the ground. Some of the beers Travis had been holding break instantly, others roll across the floor. He pummels his fists against the man’s chest, but is soon overpowered when Travis grabs him roughly by the forearms and flips them so Billy is on the ground instead.

A fist slams into Billy’s face, then again, and again. He can feel pieces of glass under his back. Travis is pinning both his arms with only one hand. He squirms his legs around until he manages to land a good kick to the man’s groin, getting him to release his arms. Billy plants a fist in the middle of Travis’s face, hears a _crack_ when it makes contact.

“ _Fuck!_ You fu-” Travis shouts, seething as blood starts to pour out of his nose. “ _I’m gonna fucking kill you!_ ”

Billy doesn’t doubt him. He scrambles to push the rest of the man’s weight off of him and get to the door behind him. He’s on his knees, twisting the knob and pulling it open, when a hand yanks him backwards by the back of the shirt, choking him. Billy claws at the front collar, trying to pull it away from his neck.

He’s gasping, desperate for air, when the front door is flung the rest of the way open and someone is there, pushing Travis away from him. The hold on his shirt releases and Billy takes in a deep inhale. Someone grabs his arm and helps pull him to his feet.

In front of him, in the hallway, there’s a woman on the phone and he figures she must be talking to 911. Behind him, Travis is struggling against a man who is trying to restrain him. Billy sees that one of the doors on the other side of the hall is open. They must be his neighbors.

The woman hangs up the phone and helps Billy to his feet, pulling him out of the apartment and into the hall.

“The police are on the way, okay? Is your mom here or is she at work?”

“Work.”

“Do you want to call her?” she asks, holding out her phone.

Billy lets out a humorless laugh.

“I can look up the number to the restaurant. Just hang on.”

“You know where she works?” Billy asks.

That information was something he had never got around to learning. All he knew was that she worked nights.

“Yeah, over on 5th and Spruce. By the library, right?”

Billy books it towards the stairwell, ignoring the kind neighbor woman who calls after him to wait for the police to get there.

* * *

He stops, panting, on the corner across the street from the restaurant. **Spruce Street Cafe** the sign outside reads. He stares through the window, watching his mom as she moves between tables.

Once he’s caught his breath, Billy crosses the street and walks inside, a little bell jingling above his head. The other waitress sees him and gasps before looking pointedly at his mom. The diners are all silently staring at him. Billy wonders how bad his face looks.

“ _Billy_ ,” his mom hisses, marching over and grabbing him by the arm. “You know my boss doesn’t like you hanging around here.”

She tells the other waitress she’s taking her ten and drags Billy through the kitchen and out the back door. Reaching into her pocket, she pulls out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. It’s dark in the back alley they’re standing in, but the flame from the lighter shows her expression, tired and frazzled.

“So now you’re fighting again, huh?” she asks, gesturing to his face. “Skipping school, not coming home, getting into fights.”

“Your asshole boyfriend did this to me. The cops should be there by now.”

His mom drops the cigarette to the ground, doesn’t bother with stamping it out. She grabs him roughly by the shoulders, her slim fingers digging in.

“Billy, _what did you do?_ ”

“What did _I_ do? He beat the shit out of your kid! Don’t you care?”

She lets out a distressed sound. “Why can’t you ever think? What are we going to do now? He’ll throw us out!”

“Good! We can get by without him. We’ll be _better_ withou-”

“I can’t handle you on my own, Billy! I’ve never been able to!”

She mutters more to herself under her breath as she shakily tries to light a new cigarette. Her fingers fumble to hit the button on the lighter and finally she just throws it to the ground.

“I’ve been trying to find you for so long,” Billy says in a quiet voice. “Ever since that day at the carnival -”

“Jesus, Billy! That fucking carnival! I _wanted_ to leave you there that day! I watched you with the cops and thought about how easy it would be if I just turned and left you there. I almost did.”

The look on her face is one of relief, like she’s been carrying this secret around for so long and now that she’s said it there’s a weight lifted off of her shoulders.

“You don’t want me,” Billy realizes. “You never did.”

“I was _seventeen_. Of course I didn’t want a baby!”

There’s an all-too-familiar _whoop-whoop_ sound as a police car pulls up to the front of the restaurant. Billy can imagine what happens next. They question him about what happened with Travis. Maybe they send him to juvie, maybe they don’t. If they don’t, his mom sure as shit won’t want him back. She had never wanted him to begin with. He’ll be homeless. Or he’ll end up right back in the system he had tried so desperately to get out of for so long.

Billy did the only thing he knew how to do. He turned and ran.


	9. ix

Billy stares up at the window.  _ His  _ window. That was in  _ his  _ room. In  _ his  _ home.

He had never taken the time to see how good he had it there. There were two adults who loved him, who had  _ wanted  _ him. There was a mixture of uniquely great kids, who he had never appreciated enough.

This was the place he had wished to get away from, yet it was the same place his body had taken him while his mind was reeling from his mother’s words.

He scoops up a handful of tiny rocks and started bouncing them off of the window. After a few, the glass slides up and Freddy sticks his head out. He doesn’t shout anything down for fear of waking up someone in the house but holds his arms up in a gesture that says,  _ What are you doing out here so late?! _

Billy stuffs his hands into his pockets and looks down at his shoes, realizing he isn’t really sure why he’s there. He’s nothing but a bother to everyone around him.

He had spent years running away from people, a lot of whom had never done him wrong in any way. They just weren’t who he had wanted. Who he wanted, it turned out, didn’t want him back.

_ I wanted to leave you there that day! _

And Freddy. He’s done nothing but disrupt Freddy’s life, looking to him for friendship when, before he had woken up in this timeline, he had treated Freddy like crap. Now he was showing up in the middle of the night without a decent explanation for why.

He looked back up. Freddy was gone. The window was closed.

Billy sighed. It was what he deserved. Maybe he was someone who was just meant to be alone in the world. He had been claiming that he could take care of himself for years now, anyway.

He turned and started walking away from the house.

“Billy!” a whisper-shout came from behind him.

He turned back to see Freddy slipping out the back door of the house, carefully pulling it closed behind him.

“Is this your idea of a joke?” Freddy asks as he slowly makes his way. “Waking a crippled kid up in the middle of the night and then leaving?”

Billy knew he was joking, but was still suddenly struck with another pang of guilt, knowing that Freddy always had a difficult time with his leg right after waking up.

“I-I’m sorry,” he blurts out. “I shouldn’t have come here. I can’t keep pushing you away and then expecting you to be there when I want you to be.”

Freddy stops in front of him and reaches out to brush his fingers against the purple bruise that has blossomed on the side of Billy’s face.

“Hey, what happened? Was it -?”

Billy nods. “It was him.”

“I can get you something from the freezer t- Billy?”

Billy realizes that he’s started crying, tears streaming down his face as his chest heaves with silent sobs.

“I messed up,” he hiccups. “I messed up so bad. I pushed all of you away because I wanted to find my mom, but-but she doesn’t even want me. She never did. And now all I want is my life back, living here with you, but I fucked it all up.”

Freddy frowns. “What do you mean she doesn’t want you?”

“That day, at the carnival, she left me there on purpose. I was too much for her. All I do is ruin people’s lives.”

Billy brings a hand up to his mouth to stifle a sob he knows otherwise would be loud and desperate. He feels Freddy’s arms wrap around him and doesn’t hesitate for a moment before hugging him back, his fingers tightly gripping the back of Freddy’s shirt. He cries hard and unabashedly, burying his face in Freddy’s shoulder. Freddy rubs a hand over his back.

“That’s not true,” Freddy tells him softly. “You make people’s lives better. You make  _ my  _ life better.”

When Billy finally lifts his face to wipe his nose, the collar of Freddy’s shirt is soaked through with hot tears.

Billy sniffles. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. Come in the house, okay? Let me help you. You don’t have to be alone.”

Billy nods and follows Freddy inside. They move quietly into the kitchen. Freddy pulls a bag of frozen peas out of the freezer for Billy to put on his cheek.

“Are you hungry?”

His instinct is to say no, but Billy pushes past it.  _ Let me help you. You don’t have to be alone. _

“Yeah.”

Freddy grabs four slices of bread and a jar of peanut butter. Neither says anything while Freddy spreads peanut butter and Billy watches. Billy’s hand is starting to go numb from the frozen peas, but he doesn’t really care.

Freddy pushes one sandwich in front of Billy and takes a bite out of the other one. Once Billy starts eating, the sandwich is gone in a flash. Freddy offers up the second half of his own.

They put the peas away and then make their way carefully up the stairs to their room. Freddy pulls pajama pants and a sweatshirt out of the dresser for Billy to change into.

Freddy is already sitting on his bunk when Billy turns around in the pajamas. Billy looks up at the top bunk and bites the inside of his cheek nervously.

“Do you think I could -?” he trails off vaguely.

It takes Freddy a second to realize what Billy’s trying to ask, but then he says, “Yeah! I’ll scoot over.”

Freddy slides over against the wall and Billy gets in next to him. They both lay still, staring up at the bunk above them.

“You know you can stay here, right?” Freddy says. “Rosa and Victor wouldn’t turn you away, you know that.”

Billy nods. “I know. I just...I really wish that I had never left at all.”

He feels Freddy’s fingers find his and squeeze. They don’t say anything else and eventually both drift off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I CAN'T BELIEVE TOMORROW IS THE LAST CHAPTER ???????


	10. x

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOOOUUU to everyone who has been reading/liking/reviewing along for the last 10 days! it means so much to me & i can't believe this is the ending!

Billy groans as someone shakes his shoulder.

“Billy! Wake up!”

He cracks open his eyes and the first thing he notices is that he’s on the top bunk even though he distinctly remembers having fallen asleep on the bottom one next to Freddy. He pushes himself up onto his arms and looks around in confusion.

“How did I get up here?”

Freddy snorts. “Geez, dude, already losing your memory? I guess you _are_ an old man now.”

Billy brings a hand to the side of his face, where the skin should be bruised and tender to the touch. It doesn’t hurt.

“Wha-what’s going on?”

“It’s your birthday,” Freddy says, as if it’s obvious. “Are you feeling okay?”

Billy springs off of the bed and grabs the cell phone that’s charging on top of the dresser. It’s _his_ phone, he realizes. He clicks the screen and looks at the date.

It’s his birthday. Again.

“You’re kinda freaking me out here...” Freddy says behind him.

Billy spins around, desperate to tell Freddy what’s happened. He’s undone the wish! He’s back! The words are on the tip of his tongue, but he stops himself.

“I-I just had a weird dream, that’s all.”

Freddy accepts that as an explanation for his friend’s weird behavior and hands Billy an envelope. Billy rips it open and, sure enough, it’s the same card, complete with Freddy’s corrections to the pre-printed message.

This time Billy brings his eyes to Freddy’s messy scrawl inside the card.

_I know this isn’t where you want to be on your birthday, but I’m glad you’ve stuck around. You’re the best best friend I’ve ever had. Happy Birthday, Billy!_

“Sorry I couldn’t get you a present,” Freddy tells him. “But I helped Rosa and Victor pick out somethi-”

He’s cut off when Billy suddenly squeezes him tightly. After a brief moment of shock, Freddy hugs back.

“There’s nowhere I would rather be today,” Billy says once he’s released Freddy.

“What about your m-?”

Billy shakes his head. “I want to be here. _This_ is my home.”

Freddy smiles. “When Rosa hears you say that, she’s going to think it’s _her_ birthday.”

The others! Billy races out of the room and down the stairs. Immediately, Darla flings herself at him. This time, Billy leans down and hugs her back. Darla doesn’t let go until he does, as if she knows how much he needs this.

He shuffles into the dining room, Darla still attached to him by the waist.

“Happy Birthday, Billy!”

He doesn’t say anything, he can’t. He just stands there and stares at them, overwhelmed with how grateful he is for this family and for this second chance to be a part of it.

“Oh, honey,” Rosa says and goes up to him, wiping her thumb across his cheek. “Why are you crying?”

Billy silently wraps his arms around her and she doesn’t hesitate before hugging him back. He starts to feel more arms, more bodies, as it turns into a family hug.

For years, Billy’s birthday wish had been to go _home_. But home had found him.

 

 

 


End file.
